German composition

Section 192 Royal Benevolence

Frederick the Great, King of Prussia⁠1, once rang the bell⁠2 of his cabinet; but as nobody answered⁠3, he opened the door of the ante-chamber, and there found his page fast asleep⁠4 upon a chair⁠5. He went up to awake him, but, coming nearer, he observed a paper in his pocket, upon which something was written⁠6. This excited his curiosity. He pulled it out, and found that it was a letter from the page’s mother, the contents of which were nearly as follows⁠7: “She returned her son many thanks⁠8 for the money he had saved out of his salary and sent to her, which had proved a very timely assistance⁠9. God would certainly reward him for it, and if he continued to serve God and his king faithfully and conscientiously, he could not fail of success⁠10 and prosperity in this world⁠11.” Upon reading (S. 55, N. 1) this, the king stepped softly into his closet, fetched a rouleau⁠12 of ducats, and put it with the letter into the page’s pocket (S. 43, N. 9, B). He then rang again till the page awoke and came into his closet. “You have⁠13 been asleep, I suppose?” said the king. The page could not deny it, stammered out an excuse⁠14, put, in his embarrassment, his hand into his pocket, and felt the rouleau of ducats. He immediately pulled it out, turned⁠15 pale, and looked at the king with tears in his eyes. “What is the matter with you?” said the king. “Oh!” replied the page, “somebody has contrived⁠16 my ruin: I know nothing of this money.” “What God bestows⁠17,” resumed the king, “He bestows in sleep. Send the money to your mother (App. § 5), give my respects to her⁠18, and inform her that I will take care⁠19 of both her and you.”—W. Buck.

Notes

1 Friedrich der Große, König von Preußen, wurde am 24. Januar 1712 in Berlin geboren und war der Sohn des Königs Friedrich Wilhelm I, der den den Künsten und Wissenschaften ergegeben Jüngling oft tyrannisch und hart behandelte und ihn selbst gegen seine Neigung im Jahre 1733 mit der Prinzessin Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Bevern vermählte. Nach dem Tode seines Vaters bestieg er am 31. Mai 1740 den preußischen Thron, auf dem er bald Gelegenheit fand, seine bedeutenden Talente als Staatsmann und Feldherr zu bethätigen. Die Geschichte nennt ihn wohl mit Recht den größten Fürsten, Feldherrn und Staatsmann seiner Zeit, und als er am 17. August 1786 auf seinem Lustschlosse zu Sanssouci starb, hinterließ er seinem Nachfolger ein um 1325 Quadratmeilen vergrößertes Reich, einen Schatz von über 70 Millionen Thalern, eine Armee von 200,000 Mann und einen kräftig emporblühenden Staat.

2 to ring the bell, die Glocke ziehen; of = in.

3 = appeared.

4 in tiefem Schlafe.

5 Supply here sitzen.

6 The clause ‘upon — written’ may be briefly rendered by ‘beschrieben’, to be placed before paper, inflected as an adj.

7 were... as follows, folgendermaßen lautete.

8 to return a person many thanks, einem vielmals danken. Construe this and the following passages according to App. §§ 28, 30 and 31.

9 Place the words ‘sent to her’ before ‘money’, attributively, and render ‘which — assistance’ by und ihr sehr gelegen gekommen sei.

10 You cannot fail of success, das Glück kann dir nicht fehlen.

11 = life.

12 Rolle, f.

13 = Thou hast, after which place the adv. wohl = I suppose.

14 = stammered some words of (der) excuse.

15 = became.

16 ersonnen.

17 = gives.

18 give — her, grüße sie von mir.

19 to take care of a person, für einen sorgen; of — you = of both of you. He saw both of us, Er sah uns beide.